Cardiff art-punk duo Totem Terrors are back with a see-seawing slice of rhythmic brutality entitled ‘Big E’ it’s lifted from their forthcoming second album, Hard Science, released 29th June 2015 via Diet Pops.
‘Big E’ marks a evolution in sound for the pair, who have always traded on an irresistible idiosyncratic form of playful, minimalistic post punk balanced somewhere between Wire and PiL yet threaded with their knowing vocal sparring.
‘Big E’ see’s TT turning up the dials, and using their own equipment to forge a new way forward. Thundering out crunchy slabs of Albini-like rhythmic dexterity, which are decorated by precise needle like licks, that sound like they are tumbling down flights of stairs in a Hammer Horror film, conjoined by marching drum machines. While Max Hicks’ (vocals, bass & drum programming) insistent robotic chant is counterpointed by Rosie Smith’s (vocals, guitar and synth) twitchy vocals that help create a building tension. ‘I don’t owe you anything’ she cries as she make a break for the nearest shadowy corner to hide behind, before time is up on the ticking bomb and the edifice bursts and flails into an experimental bleed of scratchy feedback and random keys. Like the Cramps stalking Gang of Four down several back alleys, bleeding marvellous, offering a tantalising window into what we can expect from ‘Hard Science’ later this month and what’s more it’s FREE!
